Rescued hedgehogs
We recently welcomed and released hedgehogs from the Pembrokeshire Hogspital
Three hedgehogs joined us early October from a local rescue and rehabilitation centre ‘Pembrokeshire Hogspital’. One male and two females were rescued from different areas of the county as hoglets and have come together to form a new unrelated breeding population.
One of the issues affecting hedgehogs is extreme weather. This has huge impacts on native wildlife, including insects which hedgehogs rely on as their food source. The Hogspital admits around 200 hedgehogs every year, many of which are sadly dehydrated and underweight.
With so many admissions, the Hogspital has to get clever with naming them, so this years’ theme was islands of the British Isles. Danna was born in May, Samson, in June and Agnes in July. Even at this young age they all weigh nearly 1 kilo! Ginny, one of the cofounders a the Hogspital, has kept them well fed, with the aim of getting them to a good enough weight to ensure they have enough reserves when they’re released into the wild.
Although guests aren’t able to view the hogs, they form an important part of the native biodiversity we have on site at Folly Farm. The release site is far away from human disturbance and will provide them with enough natural food for them to flourish. Gently sloped ponds allow them opportunities to drink and even swim safely. Logs and branches, a by-product of our hungry giraffes, have been used to create dead hedges and brash piles. These are the perfect hiding spots for hedgehogs, and they also encourage all sorts of creepy crawlies to flourish, providing them with tasty snacks.
When they arrived, they spent a couple of weeks being habituated to life in the wild in a specially made release pen. We’ve now allowed them to come and go as they please. The release pen will act as a safe environment for them to return too and we will continue to feed and monitor them as and when they need it. We have also been closely analysing their behaviour, using trail cameras around their release pen. They seem to be enjoying their second chance at life and have been observed digging amongst the leaf litter, foraging for natural food.
Pembrokeshire Hogspital, run by Ginny and Russ, is a non-profit organisation that rescues and rehabilitates sick, injured or orphaned hedgehogs each year. It is thought that numbers of hedgehogs have dropped by 50% since the millennium, so their work is critical to the survival of hedgehogs in the county.